LHC dismisses petition against vote recount in NA-73

LAHORE - The Lahore High Court Wednesday turned down a petition seeking a complete recount of votes in NA-73, the constituency in Sialkot from where PML-N leader Khwaja Asif became member of the national assembly.

Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh passed the order on petition moved by PTI’s runner up candidate Usman Dar.

The petitioner through his counsel Anees Hashmi contended that he was defeated with a margin of 1406 votes while 7346 votes were rejected in his constituency. He said his polling agents were not provided form45 which was against the election rules. He said retuning officer turned down his plea for a complete recounting of votes in the constituency. He asked the court to stay victory notification and order a complete recount in the constituency. After hearing both sides, the court dismissed the petition. Besides it, a division bench headed by Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza turned down four intra court appeals (ICAs) challenging decisions of different single benches regarding recounting of votes. The bench held that all the ICAs were not maintainable.

The Election Commission of Pakistan opposed the arguments of the appellants, saying that the decision by a single bench could not be challenged through appeals before the high court. The commission said that the appellants could approach the Supreme Court as it was the appropriate forum for hearing of their appeals.

Ghazanfar Abbas, Sonia Raza, Ashfaq Sarwar and other had moved the appeals.